Pharma Spends Billions on Lobbying, Campaign Contributions

From 1999 to 2018, the United States pharmaceutical and health product industry spent $4.7 billion on lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions, according to a recent JAMA Internal Medicine study.

“Although both Democrats and Republicans consider lowering prescription drug prices a priority, lobbyists and campaign donors in the pharmaceutical industry may counteract efforts by federal and state governments to decrease these costs,” said Olivier J Wouters, PhD, department of health policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom and author of the study.

Per the observational study, the US averaged $233 million in lobbying and contribution funds for each year—the highest of any industry at the federal level, noted Dr Wouters.

“In 2018, the US spent an estimated $3.6 trillion, or 17.6% of its $20.5-trillion gross domestic product, on health care, including $345 billion on prescription drugs sold in retail pharmacies,” Dr Wouters wrote. “Adjusted for inflation, per-person spending on prescription drugs sold in US retail pharmacies increased from $520 in 1999 to $1025 in 2017.”

PhRMA, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, accounted for a disproportionate share of spending on lobbying over the study period.” There is concern that decisions regarding health care policy and legislation have been influenced.

“Understanding the spending of the pharmaceutical and health product industry on lobbying and campaign contributions can inform discussions about how to temper the influence of industry on US health policy,” concluded Dr Wouters. —Edan Stanley